Two children of veterans of the American Civil War are still receiving a pension of $876 (£579) a year

The American Civil War claimed the lives of at least 600,000 men and many
billions of dollars in treasure – yet there is another cost which endures to
this day.

Two children of veterans of the conflict are still receiving a pension of $876
(£579) a year.

The news that, a few months before the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg
Address, the US Government continues to pay Civil War pensions to a
recipient in Tennessee and another in North Carolina has caused unease in a
nation that has just marked a decade since the invasion of Iraq.